Something for Dad

Paul is now in North Carolina and the boys and I have been hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Grant and Jonathan's 8th grade graduations.

Grant is getting a bit of a workout holding these two.

Boys hanging out in the strawberry patch.

Playing in a box. Why spend money on toys?!

Roasting hot dogs with Grandpa at the farm.

Building bridges with Jacob at the Loomis house.

Andrew's portrait of pregnant mom.

Placing a flag at the cemetary for Memorial Day. Err- maybe that should read replacing the flag they took out on Memorial Day at the cemetary...


We miss you Daddy and love you lots!

Strawberry Pickers

Aden and Andrew love strawberries and are so happy to get out in Grandma and Grandpa's garden for a few fresh ones.

We also got to get a quick zoo visit in before Daddy had to leave for North Carolina.

For the record this is the 35 week belly. (-:

Gardening

Despite the rainy, stormy weather we managed to get outside and plant some seeds. It will most likely be the craziest looking garden anywhere, but we did it together!

We had a very happy Easter and the boys really got into the egg decorating and hunting this year. It was a lot of fun!



Aden started out flinging out all of the eggs that he put in- but he settled down and got to work. We are still enjoying the 'goodies'. Thanks Grandma Newton and our egg-hiding cousins! We loved it!



Andrew sees more eggs! This kid wouldn't quit. He was a little man on a mission.

Bucket Head Andrew

Andrew clowning for the camera.

Bucket Ride with Chase

Brave Aden- Not afraid of the Easter Bunny- like some boys...

Here is a taste of the crazy life at our house- non-stop busy bodies creating havoc everywhere they go. I left the kitchen and came back to this. Lucy was getting the best deal of all.

We are still looking for a job and are trying not to be discouraged. 7 weeks left until we get to meet Charlie!

St. Patrick's Day Silliness

We had some fun around here on St. Patrick's Day. We found some silly stuff to play with and clown around with. Although Andrew wasn't too keen on putting on his green hair. Aden tried to talk him into it, but he just wouldn't have it.

Climbing on the brick 'wing' in the back yard.


Hanging on the fence at the zoo.

Respirators on and ready to work. We have been doing work on the bedrooms and the master bath. These two are helpers!
Somehow they have really gotten a mind of their own... hmmmm.

Trying to do a little catch-up!

Well, we are alive and well in Kansas- just a little busy trying to work on the house, repair our cable line, and now trying to find a new job!

Here's a picture of the boys by the house after we replanted the grape vines. They are finally getting old enough to 'pose' together for me!

I have a couple of videos I am going to try to upload also.

Charlie Gabli is about 14 weeks from his due date and he is a lively little guy. He makes sure I don't forget about him!

Some dancing and ball playing

Aden showing off some of his dance moves.

Andrew stepping back behind the 3-point line for a game winner.

Big Brothers

Well, as many of you may already know, Aden and Andrew are going to be big brothers.

Our due date is June 10.

Here's an ultrasound pic of the jumping bean.

We are 12 weeks and 5 days along and usually the tech cannot see enough to determine the sex. BUT... everyone in the room felt like this looks more like boy than girl. It's not conclusive, but I am not buying anything pink!

We are very excited and thankful that all looks well so far. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Happy Birthday Nanna!

Hi Nanna! Hope your birthday was a happy one!

If you were here we would have taken you to Chuck E. Cheese's. Where Aden picks up chicks!

And Andrew drives the creepy vet to his pet appointments!


And YES we did celebrate Halloween! We had a great time with our Eischen cousins scoring all kinds of candy downtown. Here we are with our football star cousin Jay Paul. Go Cowboys!

And one more picture of Aden. He wanted the baseball cap, the glove AND the ball. Pretty funny, looks like we have 2 ball players in the house.

We miss you and are looking forward to seeing everyone in Michigan at Christmas time!

Just goofing around

Hi All,

Some other bloggers have been wondering about fall/pumpkin patch pictures... we have been cancelled 3 times because of weather. So we have some fall pictures to share. They just happen to be all indoor pictures.

First, here is Sally after her bee encounter. I pulled the stinger out of her lower leg. She cried almost non stop until Paul came home and magically calmed her down. She has totally recovered, but I learned what a giant wimp she is!

Here are the boys playing a game of 'peek-a-boo' in the cabinet. They were laughing so hard. They really get tickled about things sometimes and it is impossible not to crack up with them.

Here is Aden with his school bus. He is so cute trying to sing along with the 'Wheels on the Bus'. It won't be long and he will be ready for American Idol.
And here is Andrew after Dad 'improved' the slide and made it a whole new toy. Ya think he approves?! That is one big grin.

Well, we have a couple of pumpkins to carve and hopefully a couple more chances for pumpkin patch pictures. We did go on a Parents as Teachers pumpkin patch visit. The boys really liked the trailer ride and Aden liked petting the soft bunny. Bad Mom forgot the camera in the car. It is so hard to get a good picture of them together anyway- I forgive myself!

We're Two!

Aden and Andrew are TWO! What a fun and fast two years it has been. One minute they are big boys and the next still like babies in my arms. We had a fantastic birthday, starting off with Nana Gabli staying with us from Thursday to Tuesday, helping us make birthday cupcakes and getting ready for our busy birthday. We loved our Blue's Clues theme and had pretty much everything blue by the time it was over.

Aden is all smiles getting ready to blow out his candles. Even with no practice he was an old pro!

Andrew was a little shy coming out to blow out his candles, but he did a great job.

We are sending a BIG thank you to all who came and helped us get the privacy fence put up. It is already coming in handy. Like to pen the neighbors mini horses when they come over to visit! Aden even took a little ride, but for some reason we missed this on video! But Andrew saves the day, by telling us a little about horses.

The boys really like to help Dad and Mom. They help Dad work on the tractor and can really work their cordless drills.

What's for dinner, guys?

Here we are at Exploration Place.

We love to check out the exhibits. Here is Aden in the 'Scoop on Poop' outhouse.

Doesn't he look relaxed?

Again a big thanks to all of you who came and helped us celebrate our big 2nd birthday! Also here are some building pics.

A big shout out to U. Robert for the hoop and U. Randall for bringing it to us!

And a random picture of Aden playing in the building. We are looking forward to the next year and all the new adventures it will bring!

Announcing the Arrival of Sally

Well, we went and did it. It's puppy time for the Gablis. We welcome the newest addition to our family, Sally. She is an 8 week old, 3.3 lb Silky Terrier. She is quickly winning us over and is proving to be a very sweet girl.


Lucy is taking to her 'baby sister' pretty well.

The boys are at Grandma's and haven't met her yet, but we are certain they will be cuckoo for her!

Labor Day Watermelon Eating

Enjoying some Cleo Springs Labor Day watermelon. (We had to cut Andrew off- that boy loves his melon!)

Getting a 4-wheeler ride from Grandpa.

Well we had a great Labor Day in Cleo Springs. The boys stayed the whole week prior with Grandma and Grandpa. They keep each other hopping!

Andrew and Aden are both starting to talk- A LOT! It is really funny now that they are starting to be able to communicate their ideas. Andrew tells us that he wants to drive the car and wants one of his own. Aden is starting to ask for things to be put in his hand. They know about wet and dry, light and dark, and big and small. Aden is pretty good with his colors as well. As usual we are having a boatload of fun with them and staying pretty busy ourselves.

We have put in 30 posts in order to put up our new privacy fence. I am looking forward to having the backyard fenced in again. I know I need to get some pictures of the new barn up, but I am not going out today- it is way too wet.

We've had a busy week with the guys. Monday we went to the zoo. Tuesday was shopping and Wednesday we hosted a playdate with a group of moms/kids from our Meetup group. Yesterday and today have been kind of hard because of the rain. We are used to going outside to play. This winter we have to get the barn play area fixed up- so they can burn energy and not freeze!

Hope everyone is doing great!

Listening to Mom and Not Listening to Mom

Andrew really likes fruits and vegetables. He really likes any kind of melon.

Aden LOVES squirt bottles. This one just has water in it. I am trying to teach him to clean windows.

A Typical Day

Today was a regular day for Aden, Andrew and myself. I was thinking it would be fun to describe my typical day. Today I got up around 7:30 a.m. and jumped in the shower to get dressed before Andrew started yelling. I beat him by about 2 or 3 minutes.
Andrew usually is already standing and saying 'up up' or 'jump'. He likes to 'jump' out of bed. Then Aden gets up, usually he plays coy for a bit and won't let me grab him- but he is smiling and laughing and gets up for me to hold him too. We usually sit on the couch in the living room and talk about what we are going to do or what the weather is like or read a book until they squirm off my lap and shoot off in different directions. One of Aden's favorite pasttimes right now is getting dizzy. You can count on it 2 or 3 times a day. Andrew invented the game of fall off the Rockin' Zebra, and Daddy added the touch of 'shooting' him before he falls off. He is quite the stuntman/actor.

After a bit of playing, one of them usually heads to the refrigerator to ask for milk. This past week Andrew has headed right for his high chair to get some breakfast. Then we usually have toast, egg or sausage, cereal, oatmeal or whatever is handy. This meal is a hit or miss. Some mornings they eat like farmhands and others they hardly eat a thing. The thing is that their appetites come right back! After breakfast is sometimes drawing time. We love Winnie the Pooh right now and we did some W the P stickers the other day. Andrew wanted help to peel off each one (and then stuck them in a stack) and Aden peeled the sticker border off and stuck 3 to the table before I even realized what was going on (busy helping Andrew).

Sometimes after this I get lucky and they go off and play. Which is good and bad. Good because they are entertaining themselves. Bad- because usually they are entertaining themselves by emptying a cabinet or a drawer or unrolling the toilet paper or doing a thousand things that are fascinating to a toddler, but a big mess to a mom. Often we go feed Lucy around this time and some days we actually get out of the house and go to the zoo, or the Exploration Place or to a playdate. Today I played with them for most of the morning. We read a few books, played 'Ring Around the Rosie' (Aden likes to play the flying version), chased, did somersaults, and generally played.

Today we ran a quick errand to get milk at Braum's (we go through at least 2 gallons a week). They are good about going in the car- (probably because of the DVD player in the backseat). I started out thinking that it would be a sometimes thing- but now it is a anytime we ride in the car thing. When we got home the boys got out of the car and started exploring. They have a big sand pile up by the house and we inflated a baby pool and put it up in the garage. They love the sand and dirt and couldn't care less about the pool. They are also getting pretty good at running and like to run when they get outside. Thankfully we have a lot of space and I can still catch them if they get too far. And I always have the trump card of 'going inside'. That strikes fear and terror in them. And right now I can still pick them both up and carrying them inside (screaming and crying) if I have to. (They are both over 36" and I swear Andrew weighs about 35 lbs. Aden at least 25 and can go limp like a champ. So I am pretty sure I am carrying around 6' and 55 lbs of writhing, crying, snotty, yelling, whining sweethearts. Today I let them play outside until I knew they were hungry and thirsty and then offered them the delicious treat of icy cold juice. They were putty in my hands then, and no heavy lifting. With our juice we also had a lunch of roast beef, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and chocolate pudding. Wonderfully messy chocolate pudding.

After lunch today we took a bath. Sometimes we just play and goof until nap time at 1:30 p.m. But today we needed to clean up a bit. After the bath we read a book and then lay down in our beds for 'rest time'. At this time I frantically try to clean up the major messes and get the sand out of the shoes and off the floor and clean the kitchen and figure out dinner. And I try to rest a little too. If I am lucky they will sleep until Paul gets home. When they get up from their nap they are usually very grumpy and they get to watch TV. Sometimes Mr. Roger's Neighborhood (they love the 'Land of Make-Believe'), Teletubbies, Blue's Clues or Winnie the Pooh. We try to limit this to 30 minutes, but sometimes it stretches a bit longer. After that it is wrestle/tussle with Dad, maybe a trip outside, and overall wild monkey behavior. Then around 6 we have dinner. Tonight we had green beans and sausage and more chocolate pudding and one more bath. Then play time in their room, read a book and off to bed around 7:30 p.m. Then Mom and Dad get to a)get to work around the house, b)pass out from exhaustion, c)play Wii, d)vegetate in front of the evil television, or e)update the blog. Then off to bed and tomorrow we get to do it all again. And it is a ton of fun.

Quick Barn Pics

Our work building is going up nicely. Here are a few shots from last week and today. I am eager to start putting stuff out there!